On this page you will find some our favorite stories from Chef Rick.

To read an article, simply click on the headlines below

• Turkey Day Lifesavers
  With the Thanksgiving holiday rapidly approaching, I decided to offer a few tips for making your holiday meal easier, or at least more interesting. To begin with, choosing the right type of oil is crucial to a successful Turkey Day. After years of experimentation, I recommend Castrol 40 weight. Just fill up the crankcase of the old jalopy and high-tail it for Mom's house! You don't really want to spend all day cooking when you could be kicked back in the lounge chair with a cold one, do you? Of course not!

• Pre-Historic Fried Chicken
  Picture, if you will, a tranquil scene circa 1 million years ago, when cavemen roamed the Earth. It is Sunday, about noon. A small tribe of prehistoric Baptists (scientific name: SHALLWEGATHERUS ATHERIVERUS) has just finished their worship service. While toweling off by the river bank, a member of the group hears the plaintive cry of a prehistoric chicken (scientific name: BIGOLWHANGIN'CHICKINUS KENTUKYFRIEDUS).

• Pass The Cold Cereal--Please!
  Those of us who put together the Food section each week always strive to report on the latest culinary trends so that you don't miss out on a single one. When people north of the "MasonDixon" line decided grits and fried chicken were not only cool but worth 50 bucks a plate at trendy "Southern" restaurants, you heard it here first. Now we discover that the latest food fad for the young yuppie too busy and stressed out from climbing the corporate ladder to cook: a large bowl of cold cereal for supper.

• Oh Deer, Bambi’s Dinner
  Ladies, it’s your worst nightmare. You’re home alone, the kids are at school, and just when you’re about to enjoy that book you bought at the store last week -- you know, the one with the Fabio-lookin’ guy with no shirt one the cover -- you hear it.

• Cooking Out in the Land of the Looney Male
  Have you ever noticed that some guys get a little crazy when they’re cooking out? Suddenly, men who can’t even make a sandwich turn into super chefs when they see the trance-producing glow of the sacred flame...”

• Chemistry 101 for Pound Cakes
  The magic that goes on behind the oven door changes a pan full of batter into a light, fluffy cake that looks just like the picture in a cookbook.

• Apple Butter Time
  A family comes together to revive a tradition and finds family ties are sweeter than home-made apple butter.